View source for FreeCAD Tutorial 0: The FreeCAD User Interface

Link to:  [[:Category:Computer Aided Design | CAD Main Page]]

Link to: [[:FreeCAD Tutorial 1a: Design of a 3D Printed Electronic Box | Tutorial 1a (next) ]]

[[Category:Computer Aided Design]]

=Introduction=

FreeCAD is a free, open-source CAD package that was under development for years; and recently it has produced a "release" version.  By attracting developers from all over the design community, FreeCAD has assembled an impressive collection of features and add-ons.

=Download FreeCAD=

To get started, please visit the FreeCAD [https://www.freecad.org/downloads.php download site] if you haven't already done so.  When you click on the link it takes you to the FreeCAD download page.  

[[File:FC_download_page.jpg|450px|center|download page]]

Most of the FreeCAD user support is done through a Wiki.  If you go to the [https://wiki.freecad.org/Manual:Installing#installing_on_Windows installation instructions] you will find more information on downloading and installing FreeCAD.  This link also takes you to a large online user manual.

=Load FreeCAD From the Desktop=

Double-click on the [[File:FreeCAD_desktop_icon.jpg|45px]] FreeCAD icon (or shortcut) on the desktop.  The window will show a startup dialog as shown below.  Click on New File - Parametric Part to create a new part.

[[File:FC1a_pic1.jpg|550px|center|new part window]]

=Workbenches and Tool Bars=

FreeCAD divides up its many features into segments called "Workbenches."  They are documented in Wiki format on the [https://wiki.freecad.org/Online_Help_Toc FreeCAD website.]  In the tutorials that follow, we will be concerned only with the [https://wiki.freecad.org/PartDesign_Workbench Part Design] and [https://wiki.freecad.org/Sketcher_Workbench Sketcher] workbenches.  These are analogous to the "Features" and "Sketch" tabs in SolidWorks.

The normal practice of designing a part is to open a ([[File:FreeCAD_sketch_icon.jpg|32px]]) sketch on some plane, sketch a closed figure on the plane, and then extrude it into a third dimension using either the ([[File:FreeCAD_pad_icon.jpg|32px]]) "Pad" tool or the ([[File:FreeCAD_pocket_icon.jpg|32px]]) "Pocket" tool in the "Part Design" workbench.

When a particular workbench is active, no operations are possible outside it.  A toolbar will be displayed characteristic of the workbench.  Below is a view of the "Sketcher" toolbar.

[[File:FC_sketcher_toolbar.jpg|650px|center|sketcher toolbar]]

There are no titles on the tool icons and more tools exist than can even be displayed in this form. This can be a little bit confusing at the start, but it saves a lot of real estate in the window.  Throughout this tutorial, the icon for a tool will be displayed along with its name when it is mentioned.  In some cases you will need to open a popup menu indicated by the ([[File:FreeCAD_popup_expand_icon.jpg|32px]]) symbol

=Windows Menu Bar=

The FreeCAD interface for Windows includes a standard menu bar, and no doubt analogs are there in the other operating systems.  

The "File" and "Edit" menus include the usual items as well as some CAD-specific utilities.  Most importantly, under the "Edit" menu, there are "Cut" "Copy" and "Paste" what work as one might hope.  In a sketch, the user can select one or several items, pull down "Copy" and the "Paste."  

The effect is to copy the selected features into the clipboard and then paste the copies onto the same location where the originals were copied.  To use this feature effectively, the original items must be moved away from their original location after "Copy" but before "Paste."  Then with every subsequent "Paste" the user must move the new clones out of the pasting location and over to their intended destination.

You can also delete things by selecting them and hitting the -DEL- key.

Further down the Windows menu are items for "Sketch" and "Part Design" which are the most frequently used "Workbench" tools and they are the focus of  [[:FreeCAD Tutorial 1a: Design of a 3D Printed Electronic Box | Tutorial 1]].

Most, if not all, of the tools in each of the two workbenches ("Sketch" and "Part Design") are accessible through the respective pull-down menus.

FreeCAD also maintains a fairly long buffer of operations for the "Undo" feature.  You hit -CTRL-Z- to undo an operation and this can be repeated many times.  -CTRL-Y- performs the "Redo" feature and advances back through the buffer.  As with any "Undo" feature, making a change to the design after undoing other operations causes the other operations to be lost from the buffer.  The "Undo" buffer gets built forward advancing from the most recent design change.

For version control, FreeCAD offers access to GITHub.

=History List=

The sequence of operations used to design a part are displayed in the "Part Design" workbench in a history list similar to that shown in SolidWorks.

[[File:FC0_pic51.jpg|200px|center|history list]] 

You can edit features at any point in the list to change dimensions after they have been set.  You need to be careful not to change parameters that may cause problem with design features further down the list.

=Constraints and Elements Selection Lists=

As you add features to a sketch, FreeCAD builds a pair of lists of references to the sketch elements and the constraints that determine their location and properties.

[[File:FC0_pic52.jpg|200px|center|constraint list]] 

These lists get very long rather quickly, so they are difficult to use.  When you click on a feature in the sketch, the corresponding element in the "Elements" list is highlighted.  This is a little bit useful, but if you want to use the tool extensively, you will need to rename the features so they can be identified in the list box.

Dimensional constraints are treated like sketch elements in a parallel list.  You can select and delete constraints if you need to, but finding the right one can be tricky.  In the illustration below, the numeral "8" just below the left-center of the figure indicates that constraint number 8 applies to the horizontal alignment of the circle center point.  If that constraint needs to be deleted, you need to find entry #8 on the "Constraints" list, select it, and hit the -DEL- key.

[[File:FC0_pic53.jpg|300px|center|pic53]]

Items can be selected off of these lists and subjected to the "Cut" "Copy" and "Paste" operations either from the Windows "Edit" menu, or using the control characters -CTRL-X- ; -CTRL-C- ; and -CTRL-V- respectively.

=Navigation in the Graphical Window=

FreeCAD is available on a variety of computer brands and operating systems, including Windows, MacOS, and Linux.  For this tutorial, we focus on the PC interface which uses a three-button mouse.

[[File:three_button_mouse.jpg|200px|3 button mouse]]
[[File:SW_gear_icon_tiny.png|6px|thin strip]]
[[File:left_mouse.jpg|275px|left mouse]]
[[File:SW_gear_icon_tiny.png|6px|thin strip]]
[[File:middle_mouse.jpg|225px|middle mouse]]

On the PC, the LEFT mouse button is used for selection.

The MIDDLE button (actually a wheel) is used to move the part rendering around in the graphical space. The wheel functions as BOTH a button and a track-wheel, so there is a lot you can do with it.

If you spin the wheel, that causes the image to zoom in and out.

[[File:FreeCAD_zoom_out.jpg|650px|center|zoom]]

If you click down on the wheel and drag the mouse, this causes the image to pan around the window.

Rotating the image is done through the ([[File:FreeCAD_orientation_icon.jpg|90px]]) orientation icon in the upper-right corner of the window.  The faces of the solid are controls that deliver the orientation indicated.  The arrow buttons in the margins cause the image to rotate by an increment.

[[File:FreeCAD_rotate.jpg|650px|center |horiz rotate]]